Ellison: 'I thought I had pole!'

James Ellison was left gutted with second place after crossing the line believing he’d taken pole in qualifying for the third round of the MCE British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.

As the chequered flag dropped, Ellison crossed the line on his final lap to see P1 on his pit board and began celebrations on his cool down lap only to be pipped in the closing moments by young gun Luke Mossey.

“That was too close for my liking!” he told MCN after the session. “I crossed the line and thought I’d got it as I saw P1 on my board. I popped a few wheelies and celebrated but it seems Luke just beat me! I could stick 45 sec laps in when I wanted but mid 45s, not low 45s so I just couldn’t match him on that one, fair play to him.”

Having topped two out of three practice sessions and qualifying second, the JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider is looking strong ahead of tomorrow’s two 30-lap races but says there’s a tough ask ahead if he’s to repeat his double victory from 12 months ago.

“It’ll be a close race tomorrow, anyone from the front three rows could win the race depending on how the start goes. The most important thing for us is to get away clean, it won’t be easy to replicate what we did last year but that’s the plan.”